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Virginia Tech Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up

Spring takeaway

The biggest takeaway from spring, at least for me, is that the offense, and particularly Logan Thomas, don’t look that much better, despite the new system/scheme/style of coaching that Scot Loeffler brought with him.

Granted they have not spent enough time together yet, and perhaps it’s too early to see the players reap those rewards, but it’s not like they have a lot of time to correct many of the issues that were exhibited in plain view (so they should probably burn those tapes so Alabama can’t get a hold of them) when they return for fall camp.

Essentially, the Hokies have only one month to iron out all of those problems before facing defending National Champion, Alabama. So it is alarming that they’re so only this far along after an entire spring of work.

Potential breakout players

Anyone from the wide receiving corps could have a breakout year. The Hokies have to replace so much at that position that any one of several guys (Demitri Knowles, Josh Stanford, Kevin Asante or Joel Caleb) could be the guy. So far it looks like it’s going to be Stanford.

Although I could go with Trey Edmunds at running back, I think he may be known to enough Hokie fans not to qualify.

As for defense, the guys I’m looking at would be Dadi Nicolas at defensive end, a player who is essentially a rush end, and the guys at cornerback who will have to fill in for Antone Exum should he not be ready by the start of the season.

DE’s James Gayle & Dadi Nicolas (USA Today Sports)

Position group grades

Based on the spring practices as well as the spring game, my grades would be as follows:

QB: C+

RB: B-

WR: B-

TE: C-

OL: C-

DL: B+

LB: B

DB: B+

Special Teams: A-

So generally, you see that the defense did a lot better than the offense, and that the special teams were very good, something you’d expect from a team that returns little on offense, 9 starters on defense and both specialists.

Are there any “surprises” we can expect?

It’s so hard to guess what the analysts will project for the Hokies this year given that they’re coming off their worst season in two decades.

There are plenty of people who think this will be a good football team just because it’s Frank Beamer and therefore they’ll have a bounce-back year. But others will see the record and without much hesitation, will sleep on the Hokies.

I think the reality lies somewhere in between, but honestly, I haven’t seen enough from this team so far to say one way or the other which way they’re trending.

Chris Hatcher of Gobbler Country provided the information for our Virginia Tech Football 2013 Spring Wrap Up. For more Virginia Tech football information, commentary and analysis, you can follow Chris on Twitter @LunchpailD.